The budget of the United Nations’ good offices in Cyprus is to be cut by more than a third this year, with the proposed budget for next year $1.2 million (€1m) smaller than that of last year, the Cyprus Mail understands.

Sources from the UN said the new budget constitutes a 37.7 per cent reduction compared to last year, and that this will force the UN to make eight job losses, with seven civilian staff to lose their jobs.

Those seven staff had been tasked with facilitating the work of bicommunal technical committees, joint work between the island’s two sides, and confidence-building measures.

In official terms, the eighth job to go is that of the UN’s special adviser on Cyprus, though this post has remained vacant for almost a decade.

The role was last held by Norwegian diplomat Espen Barth Eide, now the country’s foreign minister, between 2014 and 2017, with the UN having not since appointed a replacement after he resigned in August 2017, and negotiations having not resumed since they were abruptly cut off in Crans-Montana a month prior.

In the absence of a special adviser in recent years, the UN has instead elected to appoint a personal envoy, Maria Angela Holguin, who serves in a similar role to that of a special adviser, but with a number of key differences.

Firstly, the sources said, a special adviser reports directly to the UN security council and must as such adhere to the security council’s resolutions on Cyprus, with any talks on the Cyprus problem to be geared towards a bizonal, bicommunal federal solution with political equality between the two sides.

The appointment of a successor to Eide proved impossible between 2020 and last year, given that Ersin Tatar, who served as Turkish Cypriot leader during that period, refused to enter negotiations geared towards a federal solution to the Cyprus problem and as such blocked the appointment of any new special adviser.

As such, it was agreed in 2024 that a personal envoy would instead be appointed, with a personal envoy reporting directly to the UN secretary-general of the day, and able to listen to Cypriot leaders who do not act within the previously agreed-upon bizonal, bicommunal, federal framework.

With the role of special adviser falling under the security council’s budget and the role of personal envoy falling under the secretary-general’s budget, Holguin’s role would not under threat as a result of the budget cuts.

However, UN sources had earlier told the Cyprus Mail that should the positions of the security council and Cyprus’ two sides do once again align and formal negotiations under the agreed upon framework do once again look likely, there is “nothing to stop them” from appointing a special adviser if the security council deems it necessary.

As such, following the election of pro-federation candidate Tufan Erhurman as Turkish Cypriot leader last year, the road could at some point be opened for a new special advisor to be appointed in the coming years.

The Cyprus Mail had also been informed late last year that the UN’s peacekeeping force in Cyprus (Unficyp)’s future looks to be on steadier ground, given that half of its current US$55 million (€46.8m) budget is covered by the Republic of Cyprus and Greece.

As such any cut made by the UN to Unficyp’s budget will only impact the half of the budget financed by the UN, with Unficyp therefore at risk of aggregate budget cuts of only 7.5 per cent, 12.5 per cent, or a maximum of 20 per cent.

Unficyp’s current mandate will expire on January 31, with the security council required to extend that mandate before that date to ensure its continued existence.